Hiccup

A hiccup is a sudden, involuntary tightening of the diaphragm, the muscle below the lungs, followed almost at once by the vocal cords snapping shut, which makes the “hic” sound. Most bouts of hiccups last a few minutes. The longest recorded case was that of Charles Osborne of Iowa, who began hiccupping in 1922 and continued, on and off but mostly on, until 1990, about 68 years.^[1] He otherwise led a normal life, married and raised a family, and is in the record books for it.

Why

Nobody knows for certain why humans hiccup. One theory is that it is left over from our distant ancestors, related to the gulping breathing movements of tadpoles and other animals with gills. Babies hiccup a great deal, even before birth, while still in the womb.^[2] It is the only reflex that people start practising before they are born and never get any better at.

Cures

Many home cures exist: holding the breath, drinking a glass of water upside down, swallowing a spoonful of sugar, or being given a fright. Most hiccups stop on their own within a few minutes, which is why every cure works for somebody. Doctors describe this as the most successful set of treatments in the history of medicine for something that was going to go away anyway.

• Hold breath: works, sometimes.
• Drink upside down: works, eventually, after the mopping.
• Sudden fright: works, but costs a friend.
• Wait: always works, except once, for 68 years.

See also

• Water – a traditional cure
• Minute – how long most last
• Echo – another short repeated sound

References

1. Hic, H. (1990). Sixty-Eight Years. Diaphragm Press.
2. Tadpole, T. (2003). “Left Over From Gills?” Evolutionary Reflexes 1: 1.
3. Sugar, S. (1998). Every Cure Works. Home Remedy Books.